Wenger slams Sparky stance

The towering Togolese target-man was charged by the FA on Tuesday, after appearing to rake his studs down the Dutchman's face during the Blues' 4-2 win at Eastlands.

“Did you watch it? If you’ve watched football for 20 years you know as well as me what a player can do," he said.

"You can ease off or not ease off. The biggest thing is in a challenge.

“I played football, and I know exactly, in a fraction of a second, where you leave in or move out. You know exactly at that fraction. I can injure somebody or I can not injure somebody, and you ease off or you leave in.”

Adebayor could now be slapped with a minimum of a three-match suspension for violent conduct, as well as further sanctions having been handed a seperate improper conduct charge for running the length of the pitch to celebrate his goal against the Gunners in front of the visiting supporters.

Team-mate Kolo Toure - who followed Adebayor from the Emirates Stadium to the North West earlier this summer - has insisted that the striker's clash with Van Persie was not intentional, while manager Hughes added that there was no malice in the challenge from his forward.

But Wenger has criticised the Welshman's decision to protect his player when the video evidence suggests that Adebayor's actions are indefensible.

“It looks very bad. You ask 100 people, 99 will say it’s very bad and the hundredth will be Mark Hughes,” he said.

“I have seen some challenges, where if you do that in the street you go to jail.

"If somebody stamps on your head in that way, you wouldn’t say “Thank you very much. Can I turn the other cheek? Only Jesus Christ did that.”